


Stripes

by SLWalker



Series: Arch to the Sky [61]
Category: due South
Genre: Arch to the Sky, Chicago (1998), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-17
Updated: 2011-09-17
Packaged: 2017-10-23 19:53:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/254244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/pseuds/SLWalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>June 1998: Fraser sews on his corporal stripes and Kowalski tries to figure out just how naive his new boyfriend actually is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stripes

"You sure this won't... y'know, cause a whole lot of problems?" Ray asked, sitting on the bed of the hotel room. It wasn't the first time he asked. Or the second. More like the fiftieth or something like that, 'cause he was pretty sure that Frase's guileless replies couldn't possibly be true. Sure, this was Canada and all that, but that didn't make it _perfect_.

"I'm sure, Ray," Fraser answered, sewing his new corporal stripes on his red dress uniform and glancing up with that same guileless look.

"Okay." Ray wasn't even close to convinced.

See, it wasn't like he didn't know for a long time that he liked guys, and after he and Stella split, he even snuck around and dated a few, and that had been good, yeah, heck, it had been _greatness_. 'Cause there was a whole part of himself that he had put aside almost all his life -- willingly, there wasn't any way he was gonna cheat on Stella -- that he got to try out. None of those panned out, but he wasn't ready for women and it was one of the things that kept him halfway sane after they were apart.

Drove him crazy, too, though. At the _same time_ , 'cause suddenly, homophobic jokes and nastiness and all that hit a lot harder. Before, he could just tune those people out for being assholes, but now, it was getting really _personal_ , and Ray was getting really aware of just how much of that crap was in the world. People could be downright nasty about it.

And Ray didn't think Canada, beautiful as it was, could be flawlessly accepting. Fraser, though... Fraser seemed to think that they could live together without some kinda cover story, and not possibly screw up his career and everything else. Not openly wearing rainbow flags or anything, but without explaining Ray away as a family friend or a cousin or whatever else that meant people couldn't speculate as easily. Just letting people draw their own conclusions about these two guys living together, shopping together, being together.

And people would. And Frase didn't seem to get that.

Then again, Fraser didn't like to talk about the other stuff. Like how the RCMP had a really uneasy relationship with the native peoples. Like how a lot of Canadians didn't revere the Mounties, but thought they were corrupt and power-hungry. Fraser could ignore Gerrard as being an anon... anomo... anomaly without thinking there might be more like him. And if he was willing to ignore those things, then he probably ignored the potential homophobia that Ray was all but expecting.

Ray watched him sew on those stripes. All these years as a Constable, and now Frase wanted to start settling down. It wasn't a desk job, though; he was going to be something called a Field Training Officer in addition to investigation, and train new Mounties out of Depot how to do their jobs. And probably lick things.

It was around there that Ray thought maybe Frase _wasn't_ as blind as he thought, and then he had to sort through that idea and figure it out.

"You really mean that, don't you?" he asked, blinking.

The slow smile that crossed Fraser's face made him look wicked and boyish and Ray wanted to lick _it_. Frase didn't look up from his sewing, either. "Yes, Ray, I really do mean it."

Like maybe training new Mounties to be more tolerant would bring about a better force. Like maybe that was how Fraser dealt with the problems that existed without giving ground to them. Like maybe if Fraser was the one teaching them, they would learn how to respect natives, gays, straights and everyone else, and still be good Mounties.

And they'd still probably learn how to lick things.

Ray decided to do some licking of his own and stood up, hands jazzing at his sides. "Put the needle down and step away from the uniform."


End file.
